The prodigal son returns! After serving a ban for three years, the legendary horse trainer Bob Baffert is finally on the cusp of making his return to the “Winner’s Circle”. However, even before the race began, the 72-year-old was dealt a blow to the guts that would get anyone reeling. Baffert’s best bet to clinch his seventh career Derby win, Rordriguez, was scratched from Saturday’s race due to a foot injury. And now, as Bob realigns his strategies, another trainer seems to have suffered a setback.
Just a couple of days before the 151st Kentucky Derby, the 2025 Fasig-Tipton La Troienne (G1) gave fans a brief idea about the scintillating action that awaits them on the weekend. Among the runners was the 2024 Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna. Shockingly, though, the 4-year-old horse finished last, not showing even a glimpse of the flamboyant star who won at Churchill Downs a year ago. Things that make you speechless, huh? But there might have been a reason for the horse’s poor finish in the race.
Thorpedo Anna’s trainer, Kenny McPeek, took to X on May 2 to share how the horse has been since the $1 million race. “Thorpedo Anna cooling out in the test barn…The bumper cars in the first turn concern me and hopefully she didn’t get injured long term,” McPeek wrote in his social media update, noting that Anna’s situation will be assessed tomorrow after she is cleaned up.
Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it is, though. Can you take a chance, though, especially after Bob Baffert’s beloved Rodriguez got its chance to make the trainer’s comeback squashed? Naturally, it would seem, McPeek’s concern isn’t misplaced.
Thorpedo Anna cooling out in the test barn. Nothing obvious at this time. We will need to clean her up and go over her tomorrow morning to get some clarity. The bumper cars in the first turn concern me and hopefully she didn’t get injured long term. Obviously we are…
— Kenny McPeek (@KennyMcPeek) May 2, 2025
The story is developing
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